24 June, 2008

Ok what is the world coming to? Or more specifically, what is Brazil coming to? The more you hear and read in the media, the more that beautiful country just sounds like Mad Max in reality; completely lawless and ruled by violence. It really comes to something though when universally adored legends are the victims of crime on their own home turf. I’m not sure why it’s more affecting, but it’s almost as if robbing your heroes is the last step into pure soulless depravity. It’s trashing your childhood, and memories, and even most basic feelings, but apparently that’s just how they roll in Brazil.

We told you a little while ago how Ronaldo was recently hi-jacked for his Ferrari and personal possessions in Sao Paulo, but if that wasn’t bad even, now it has broken to the press that the 67-year-old Pele, perhaps the greatest footballer of all time and certainly Brazil’s most famous citizen, has also been the victim of a robbery at gunpoint. The two-time World Cup winner was accosted in the middle of the day by a 10-strong gang of hoodlums in Brazil, who stole his gold necklace, a mobile phone, and an expensive wrist watch. The national treasure’s chauffeur-driven car became stuck in a traffic jam in Guaruja, close to PernambucoBeach where Pele has a holiday house, and this is where the gang pounced. Such road-side robberies are quite common in some areas of Brazil, with armed gangs from the slums erecting makeshift road blocks themselves to halt traffic before terrorizing the bottle-necked civilians.

I know this is a part of life, but is nothing sacred anymore? Did the recognition of probably someone these gang members idolized not stir any emotion in them? It’s a tragic state of affairs, but I guess looking on the bright side, at least the Great One was left unharmed.